Where There's A Will
by BlackRose108
Summary: In a tale in which Aang and Katara become a tested couple and try to find another way for Aang to master the Avatar State a secret and ancient society interfere and cause questions of Aang's duty and loyalty to arise. KATAANG.


**My first Fall story is here people, and personally I think it's going to be a good one. Now, I haven't been reading a lot on so I don't know if this is true anymore but last time I checked no one had attempted to re-write anything in the finale beyond an oneshot. Well, I'm not really here to re-write the finale I'm just making a story of events before those final episodes that somehow interfered with the finale in…..ways. So, yeah, I like the idea and this was purely made for the Kataang that was kind of lost after episode 310. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar.**

1.

How we began

It was the end of the invasion, all was calm for the moment as the remains of the kids going on Appa were being boarded and after Katara gave Hakoda one final good-bye hug she went to comfort Aang as he cried in defeat.

"Aang?" Katara whispered to him after he gave her a teary gaze and then turned his head back towards the ground.

"I-I failed," He mumbled enough so Katara knew where this was going and she immediately pulled him into a tight hug to ease the pain she knew they were both feeling. But in a way Katara sensed that all of his sorrow didn't just have to do with the lost invasion, there was something else.

"No, you haven't." She pulled him closer and nuzzled as much as she could into his bare head. She secretly missed his hair somewhat but found it oddly relaxing to feel skin there again. "It just wasn't our day, we'll win next time you'll see." She flashed the most hopeful of smiles she could at him but in his eyes he could tell that Katara was putting on a strong front.

"Well, what happens when we run out of next times?" he attempted to pull away but Katara kept him closer and he placed a gentle hand on her arm which clutched him from behind.

"Don't Aang, don't think like that…." She drifted off into the moment; remembering how she had said something so similar before he just kissed her, so effortlessly, so naturally, and she had accepted it.

"Let's just-" he started but soon enough found himself almost nose to nose with Katara; breathing heavily and drumming his fingers over Appa's fur. Katara bit down on her lip, boldly grabbing his chin and placing his lips closer to hers.

"Do you think that-" she was cut off by his lips brushing against hers in an attempt to speak at the same time she was. He sighed and clutched Appa's fur harder before standing abruptly and facing the milling crowd of soon-to-be-prisoners.

"Thank you all for being so brave and so strong, I'm going to make this up to you." He sat down just as quickly on Appa's head and grabbed the reins, Katara was thinking about sitting down next to him but rested on the fact that he needed his space. Their relationship had just gotten so much more complicated now that the intangible wall of denial for their urges to kiss each other had been broken.

0o0o0o0o0o0

"Aang, why don't you let me take the reins now, you look a little winded." Sokka commented after they were flying for two hours strait. They were almost at the Western Air Temple, just about another couple of hours, but Aang's time for steering had run its course.

"I'm fine," Aang said stubbornly and grasped the reins tighter. But Sokka just rolled his eyes and—with great difficulty—moved Aang from the reins and into the saddle with the other kids who were all sleeping due to their exhaustion. Aang batted his tired eyes and realized how beat out he was as well and slumped over the side of the saddle next to The Duke—who was oddly curled up against Toph. Though, he couldn't go to sleep and sat there simply staring at the sky, not fully awake until a tepid hand placed itself over his.

"Uh?" he moaned and realized it was Katara who must've wakened herself when Sokka switched the reins.

"Aang," she started out, not in question form, but then drifted off again as she found herself doing more and more lately.

"Hmm?"

"What's going on?" she sounded almost scared to talk to him but remained a sense of normalcy, for him at least.

"What do you mean?" he asked dumbly, both of them knowing that he knew exactly what they she was talking about.

"Aang," she drifted again, she wanted to say that she knew that he knew what she was talking about but she felt that the way she said his name said enough.

"I-I don't know okay," he seemed a bit angry for some reason, his face creased between his eye brows in frustration.

"I think you do," Katara said softly and leaned her head against his in the lightest of ways. Aang sighed profoundly and slowly placed a soft hand on her side and pulled her closer. The pair blushed but otherwise kept a straight face, both taking the situation much more seriously than they imagined.

"I don't want things to be complicated, that's all and the reason why I kissed you, you have to understand I didn't want to leave you without letting you know that, I mean, I wasn't thinking." He clutched her side harder and heard a hushed whimper from her lips at the sudden pressure.

"We need to work this out Aang." Katara settled on many moments later. "I don't know how, or what's going to happen because of it but we need to work us out because I'm still not sure whether I want….us or not." Aang's face dropped slightly enough that Katara didn't notice and he nuzzled her cheek in the most delicate of ways.

"I'll wait for you, you know." He whispered to her softly and he saw Katara smile weakly.

"I know I just hope you don't have to wait for too long." She turned towards him and coaxed him to kiss her, an invitation he readily accepted and placed his lips lightly on hers. It was a subtle and short kiss but enough to make both their minds dizzy.

"So, when you say 'work this out' you do mean, like, talk about it or, uh-"

"I mean we should vent whatever feelings we have for each other out, not keep them bottled up anymore since _that's_ obviously not getting us anywhere." She looked deep into his silver eyes; then back at the brown floor of the saddle. "I just want to test this out, see what it would be like if this was to happen between us, because I have feelings for you and I know you feel the same, so-" She looked back at him and the two smiled at the odd fact that neither of them could seem to finish a sentence that day.

0o0o0o0o0o0

After a few more hours they had finally made it to the Western Air temple at a reasonable hour even thought they had to walk a good way there once Appa got tired of carrying all the extra passengers. Once arrived Haru, The Duke, and Teo decided to explore the temple while Sokka, Toph, Aang, and Katara talked about their mission's whereabouts.

"You just need to confront the fire lord before the comet arrives," Sokka said nonchalantly and slugged back on his palms.

"Oh, yeah, sure, I'll just do that." Aang just snapped and flicked a rock over the ledge.

"Aang, no one said it would be easy" Katara reminded him softly and almost moved towards him to go and placed her arms around him but decided not to want to deal with Toph and Sokka's questions at the moment.

"Well, it's not even going to be possible, I mean where am I supposed to find a fire bending teacher?"

"We could look for Jeong Jeong again." Katara said cheerfully but her face dropped when Aang just leaned back and made a smug comment on how that was equally impossible. After many 

debates on who would be a possible candidate Aang became even more frustrated and decided to take off on his glider and abandon the conversation. But Katara grabbed his wrist before letting him fly away.

"Wait." Katara said firmly and Aang melted at her voice and closed his glider immediately.

"What?" he mumbled and almost smiled when she squeezed his hand.

"I think we need to talk."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Sokka jumped in to the conversation and lifted his index finger knowingly but Katara shot him a cold glare.

"I meant just me and Aang Sokka." Katara said bitterly.

"But, what about our plan for the next battle?" Sokka argued right back. Katara knew that Sokka had a point, the plan was more important but this was just something that needed to be done.

"Sokka," Katara issued more softly. "Later okay?" Sokka sighed and nodded slowly before Katara lead Aang away to another wing of the temple.

0o0o0o0o0o0

"You want to tell me what's wrong?" Katara snapped and slammed him onto the floor where a monstrous mural of sky bison lingered above them and the open arches of the pathway gleamed some light into the halls.

"Katara," Aang sighed and attempted to get up but Katara just leaned down against him and pushed him back against the wall once more. "I have a lot to deal with, we just lost a battle, do you really expect me to be the pinnacle of sunshine right now?" he had a hint of bitter sarcasm in his voice but Katara let it slid when he brushed her lips with his in a light nibble. He let out a deep breath, still trying to get used to the idea of being able to kiss her whenever he wanted and he tended to do it as much as possibly incase Katara opted for them not to be an item in the end.

"Okay, but try to be happy, the fights not over yet, there's still-"

"Hope," he finished for her and gave her that crocked smile that she loved in an odd way. She looked down blushing and laughed musically at how much of a broken record she must've sounded like.

"Thanks to you." She finished and leaned her forehead against his.

"Maybe we should go back to Sokka and Toph now." Aang suggested after they stayed in that position for long lingering moments.

"Mmm hmm." Katara sighed and pulled back, brushing off her dress and offering Aang a helping hand. And after a quick hug the two went back to join the planning stages of their final shot at bring peace to the world.

**Well, there's your first chapter, there will probably be a time skip to after Zuko joins the group in the next chapter and then onward with the main plot. I pretty much wanted this story to be based off fan-based Kataang outcomes that never happened. Like a nice long talk about the Kataang relationship, some couple-like actions between the two, and the biggest question of them all: the Avatar State vs. Katara conflict. That's right folks it's all here in this fanfic so stay tuned if you're interested. **

**Oh, and don't forget to review!**


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